MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Listen to this advertisement. It's in Hindi, one of India's main languages.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Hindi).
MARTIN: Sound familiar? It's for Amazon. What might also sound familiar are the grievances of some workers in Amazon's fulfillment centers in India. And we want to note here that Amazon is among NPR's financial supporters and pays to distribute some of our content, but we cover the company the same way we cover any other company or group, and that's independently. NPR's Diaa Hadid reports from the outskirts of the capital, New Delhi.
DIAA HADID, BYLINE: At a roadside cafe, 24-year-old Rajesh Singh tells us what it was like to work at a loading dock at an Amazon facility during the recent heat waves. That heat wave in northern India lasted till late June. Temperatures hovered in the triple digits for weeks.
RAJESH SINGH: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: He says people were fainting all around me. To speak to NPR, Singh gives up his chance to work a day's overtime, worth about $14. It beefs up his monthly earnings of around $120 a month. The pay might be decent in a village or provincial town, but it's low for these parts around Delhi. Singh says he's speaking out because he wants Amazon to treat workers better. To be clear, Singh largely likes his job - the flexibility, his colleagues. And that's echoed by the dozen other people we interview. They work in Amazon facilities outside New Delhi, and on the outskirts of Mumbai.
In a statement sent to NPR attributed to a spokesperson, Amazon says it complies with Indian law. It says, there's nothing more important than worker safety. Senior Amazon management echoed that at a recent tour of a facility. But Singh says during the heat wave, in the loading areas where the trucks come and go. It was hell.
SINGH: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: He says his female coworkers often fainted or felt dizzy. Still, they were expected to fulfill their loading targets, including lifting heavy items. Other workers tell a similar story. Amazon says all their facilities are kept cool, and managers can suspend work if it gets too hot, which they say has never happened. Amazon says they also curtail deliveries during the hottest parts of the day during the heat wave.
Heat or no, workers describe a relentless pace. One woman, Neha, tells us they have to work from the minute they sign in to the minute before they stop for a break, and then from the minute their break ends.
NEHA: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: She says it's called a fast start and a strong finish. She asks we don't use her name, so she doesn't risk her job. Most workers we interview request the same. Nearly all the workers say they're pressured not to use the bathroom when they're delivering same-day orders. It's the busiest period. Amazon says workers may use washrooms whenever they need to go. The workers joke, the toilets do have one key job - as a restroom. Like when Rajesh Singh says he crushed his finger in a conveyor belt - he says a human resources officer told him to just use his other hand.
SINGH: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: Singh loads delivery trucks - not a one-handed job. He made a fuss and says he was finally told he could rest in the restroom. Amazon tells NPR that their medical facilities go beyond what's required by Indian law. On a recent tour of a facility, we saw three workers in a first aid room that was clean and bright. But hundreds of miles away, two workers on the outskirts of Mumbai echo the grievances made on the outskirts of New Delhi. They chat at a noisy bus station.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: One 25-year-old worker says he doesn't go to the bathroom for hours to keep up with his quotas.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: He says he takes pills for back pain, chest pain, and his blood pressure, which he says is up because he doesn't get to drink water or rest enough on the job. Amazon senior management says they have robust anonymous reporting systems for workers to air grievances. They say no one has reported anything like this. The workers we spoke to say they don't feel safe airing these complaints. They're afraid they'll be denied overtime by their direct managers. They say they fear they'll be blacklisted, fired, if they report being sick or injured at work. Amazon management invite us to the company's busiest facility on New Delhi's outskirts.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Welcome to Amazon, India's most...
HADID: They ask us to switch off our recorders while we tour.
We've just left the Amazon facility now. It's really acres and acres of sprawling warehouse space. It's about three stories high. Most of the workers that we saw - they're young, they're thin - heads down and getting on with their jobs.
Workers rapidly pick products off the shelf, sort it into orders, pack it into boxes, slap addresses on it. There's a cafeteria with meals at cheap prices so workers can afford them. After our tour, NPR producer Omkar Khandekar and I asked the management questions. They speak on condition of anonymity because they're representing the company, not themselves. They mostly echo the statement given by the Amazon spokesperson. But one senior official adds, he believes the claims that workers made to NPR are false and politically motivated. He says they echo complaints from a global union report that detailed problems facing Amazon workers around the world. Workers we spoke to weren't aware of that report, but they say they are inspired by efforts to unionize elsewhere. They're specifically talking about the U.S., where workers on Staten Island made history as the first and only unionized Amazon warehouse.
(CHEERING)
HADID: Lawyer Dharmendra Kumar helped form the Amazon India Workers Association. He says, even though Amazon isn't the biggest e-commerce platform in India, it's the global standard bearer.
DHARMENDRA KUMAR: Amazon is a leader here. If the leader changes, others will follow.
HADID: Is that why Amazon is the target presently?
KUMAR: Yeah.
HADID: Kumar says the stakes are high. India is the world's most populous country, but there's not many jobs for young people. The e-commerce market will only get bigger. He wants workers to be treated better from the get-go. After similar allegations were aired in local media, the labor minister was ordered to investigate allegations. Back in the roadside cafe, Rajesh Singh says workers deserve better. He says, do you know what happens when you click to order off Amazon?
SINGH: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: How many people might get sick? What abuse they might be exposed to? How they might get blacklisted? He says, you don't know. You just order.
Diaa Hadid, NPR News, New Delhi. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
